James Nesmith

James Willis Nesmith (23 July 1820-17 June 1885) was the US Senator from Oregon (D) from 4 March 1861 to 4 March 1867, succeeding Joseph Lane and preceding Henry W. Corbett, and a member of the US House of Representatives from Oregon's at-large congressional district from 1 December 1873 to 3 March 1875, succeeding Joseph G. Wilson and preceding George Augustus La Dow.

Biography
James Willis Nesmith was born in New Brunswick, Canada in 1820 to an American family of Irish and Scottish descent; his parents were on vacation from Maine. In 1828, his family moved to New Hampshire, then to Ohio in 1838 and Iowa in 1842. Nesmith worked as a carpenter at Fort Scott in Kansas before becoming a lawyer and farmer in Oregon in 1843. Nesmith served as a captain in the US Army during the war with the Cayuse Native Americans from 1847 to 1848, in the 1853 Rogue River conflict, and the Yakima war of 1855, developing a hatred for natives. In 1861, he was elected to the US Senate as a Democrat, and Nesmith and Reverdy Johnson were the only Democratic senators to vote in favor of the abolition of slavery in 1864. From 1873 to 1875, he served in the US House of Representatives after Congressman Joseph G. Wilson, his cousin, died, and he became a Polk County farmer after leaving office. He died in Rickreall, Oregon in 1885 at the age of 64.